Advanced complex systems, such as commercial aircraft systems, typically include a very large number of components which closely interact with each other. As the cost of electronic and computer hardware decreases, these complex systems may be equipped with increasing numbers of sensors, detectors and computerized controllers. Such monitoring devices may provide valuable information that may be used for monitoring and characterizing the health of complex systems.
System health monitoring is a form of system diagnosis in which a system failure is detected, and a component that is responsible for the failure is identified. In monitoring, the diagnosis is based only on observations derived from signals originating from built-in sensors and detectors (e.g. pressure sensors, valve position detectors, etc.). System health monitoring does not take into account the symptoms of failure (e.g. abnormal sounds or vibrations, measurements performed by means of external devices such as portable testers, etc.). Although health monitoring is limited to built-in devices, it has an advantage of providing real-time health status either during operation of the complex system (e.g. during a flight) and/or soon after its completion. For example, in the context of a commercial aircraft, health monitoring may be very useful for a “go-no-go” decision at the airport gate, and may be important in other types of situations involving safety and preventing damage to expensive hardware.
Although desirable results have been achieved using known methods and systems for monitoring the health of complex systems, there is room for improvement. For example, although the proliferation of monitoring devices enables the health of a system to be monitored with improved accuracy, the complexity of health monitoring solutions also rapidly increases. Therefore, systems and methods that accurately and efficiently interpret and characterize system health using information from a large number of monitoring devices would have utility.